A  Federal High Court in Lagos State has adjourned  money laundering trial of a former Speaker of Lagos House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji.

The case slated for continuation of trial on Thursday could not go on, as the court did not sit.

Courtroom, where the trial judge, Justice Mohammed Liman sits, was closed.

The case was also not heard on June 1 and June when it was earlier scheduled for trial.

Newsmen learnt that a new adjourned date will be communicated to parties in the suit.

Ikuforiji is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alongside his former Personal Assistant, Oyebode Atoyebi.

They are standing trial before Liman on a 54-count charge bordering on money laundering.

The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty, and were allowed to continue on bail earlier granted them in 2012 when they were first arraigned.

EFCC closed its case against the defendants on March 17, 2021, after calling its second witness, Mr Adewale Olatunji, a former Clerk of the Lagos State House of Assembly

On May 4, defence counsel, Mr Dele Adesina (SAN), opened defence and has called three witnesses including the first defendant (Ikuforiji), who testified that he was being prosecuted based on a faceless petition.

He told the court that the case stemmed from a petition written by an unknown person, alleging that he stole about seven billion Naira from the assembly.

The court, however, adjourned the case in order to take addresses from parties in the suit on the admissibility of documentary evidence tendered from the bar by defence counsel.

The defendants were first arraigned on March 1, 2012, before Justice Okechukwu Okeke on a 20-count charge bordering on misappropriation and money laundering.

They pleaded not guilty and were granted bail.

The defendants were, however, re-arraigned before Justice Ibrahim Buba following re-assignment of the case.

Buba granted them bail in the sum of N500 million each with sureties in like sun

On Sept. 26, 2014, Buba discharged Ikuforiji and his aide of the charges after upholding a no-case submission by them.

Buba held that EFCC failed to establish a prima-facie case against them.

Dissatisfied with the ruling, EFCC through its counsel, Mr Godwin Obla (SAN), filed a notice of appeal dated Sept. 30, 2014, challenging the decision of the trial court.

EFCC had argued that the trial court erred in law when it held that the counts were incompetent because they were filed under Section 1(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2004, which was repealed by an Act of 2011.

The commission further argued that the lower court erred in law when it held that the provisions of Section 1 of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2004 and 2011 only applied to natural persons and corporate bodies other than government.

The commission had also submitted that the trial judge erred in law when he held and concluded that the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses supported innocence of the defendants.

In its judgment, the Lagos Division of the Appeal Court, in November 2016, upheld EFCC’s submissions and ordered a fresh trial of the defendants before another judge.

Following the decision of the Court of Appeal, the defendants headed for the Supreme Court, seeking to upturn the ruling of the Court of Appeal.

In its verdict, the apex court upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal and ordered that the case should be sent back to the chief judge of the Federal High Court for re-assignment to another judge.

According to the charge, the defendants accepted cash payments above the threshold set by the Money Laundering Act, without going through a financial institution.

EFCC also accused the defendants of conspiring to illegally accept cash payments in the aggregate sum of N338.8 million from the Assembly without going through a financial institution.

It accused Ikuforiji of using his position to misappropriate funds belonging to the assembly.

The commission said that the defendants committed the offences between April 2010 and July 2011.

The alleged offences contravene the provisions of Sections 15 (1d), 16(1d) and 18 of Money Laundering Act of 2004 and 2011. (NAN)